The Golden State Warriors have next to zero chance of landing Dwight Howard. They knew it when they asked to meet, Howard knew it. Convincing the Lakers to do a sign-and-trade that makes the Warriors a contender for years to come is next to impossible. But Howard was interested in what Golden State was building and the Warriors wanted the meeting.

Golden State also had a meeting in Los Angeles with Andre Iguodala. It was kind of the same situation — you can see the fit on the court but this would have to be a big sign-and-trade that Denver likely wants no part of. But both sides took the meeting.

What does Golden State get out of all this?

It’s all part of changing the culture.

Golden State was as poorly run a franchise you could find for a couple of decades — they made the playoffs once in the 18 seasons before this last one.

New owners Peter Guber and Joe Lacob set about changing the culture of the franchise. They brought in the highly-respected Jerry West to the front office. They went way out of the box with Mark Jackson as the coach. They have talked about a new arena on the San Francisco waterfront. They wisely want to do everything different than their predecessor.

And that includes spend money — and let fans know they are willing to spend it. That they are willing to go after the best players available.

So even if you have no real shot at Howard or Iguodala, you go in the room and pitch to them how good things are and how they fit in. The fans appreciate it. Future free agents (and their agents) take notice. And you put yourself on a different track.

We’ll see how all this plays out — short-term success could swing on a turn of Stephen Curry’s ankle.

But what they are showing from ownership on down is the kind of long-term change Warriors fans should be excited about.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Pelicans say rookie guard Frank Jackson won’t make his NBA debut this season after having follow-up surgery to remove residual scar tissue from earlier right foot operations.

The Pelicans say Jackson also received an injection in his foot.

The club says a specialist in New York handled Jackson’s latest procedure.

The Pelicans acquired the 6-foot-4 Jackson through a draft-night trade with the Charlotte Hornets, who selected the former Duke player with the first pick of the second round last summer.

Following the draft, the Pelicans signed Jackson to a three-year contract at the NBA minimum with two years guaranteed, but Jackson needed a second foot surgery last summer to address a setback following his initial surgery last May.

Anyone who watched the Thunder’s win over the Raptors Sunday afternoon in Toronto — especially the final few minutes — thought it was not referee Marc Davis and crew’s finest hour. There were missed calls and three-straight ejections of Raptors players, which all seemed rather hair-trigger (especially coach Dwane Casey, who was tossed for something a fan behind him said).

According to the report, there was only one missed call in the final two minutes: Carmelo Anthony held Pascal Siakam as a pass came to him with 11.7 seconds left, and that should have been called.

What about the play that set DeMar DeRozan off and ultimately got him ejected, the drive to the basket with 33 seconds left (and the Raptors down two) where DeRozan thought Corey Brewer fouled him? The report said that was a good no call:

DeRozan (TOR) starts his drive and Brewer (OKC) moves laterally in his path and there is contact. The contact is incidental as both players attempt to perform normal basketball moves….

RHH shows Brewer (OKC) make contact with the ball and the part of DeRozan’s (TOR) hand that is on the ball. The hand is considered “part of the ball” when it is in contact with the ball and therefore, contact on that part of the hand by a defender while it is in contact with the ball is not illegal.

(I didn’t see it that way, I think the contact was more than incidental, and to me looking at the replay Brewer catches some wrist and impedes the shot in a way that was not legal. Just my two cents.)

The report does not cover the ejections, which are reviewed by league operations but not part of this report.

Three thoughts out of all this:

1) Raptors fans/management/players have every right to feel the calls went against them in this game. As for calls always going against them — as DeRozan complained about after the game — 29 other teams and fan bases are convinced the officials have it out for them, too. I never bought that.

2) The Raptors didn’t lose this game solely because of the officiating. Russell Westbrook was clutch down the stretch, the Thunder were part of it, and the Raptors had other issues, too (Serge Ibaka had a rough game, for example).

3) This loss also does not say a thing about the Raptors in the postseason (even if they went a little too much isolation at the end) — this was their third game in four days, they looked tired and flat at the end. That will not be the case in the playoffs.

Butler is chomping at the bit to return from his knee injury. He sat on the Timberwolves’ bench during their loss to the Rockets last night wearing what appeared to be typical attire for a sidelined player. But dig deeper, and…

Marc Stein of The New York Times:

There's only one @JimmyButler (Exhibit Infinity): Butler sat on the Wolves' bench last night for the first time since his recent injury and word is he wore a distinctly Jimmy item under his blazer and t-shirt … his game jersey